Sponsor of only bill vetoed by governor frustrated by lack of inclusion in housing task force

The sponsor of the only bill fully vetoed by Gov. Bob Ferguson during his first legislative session said that the governor’s creation of a housing task force last week was “a slap in the face.”

State Rep. Mark Klicker, R-Walla Walla, made the comments after Ferguson unveiled his plan to spend $244 million on housing investments and signed an executive order aimed at establishing a cabinet-level state agency focused on housing.

According to the executive order, the task force will make recommendations on building “pathways to stable housing” for those on the brink of homelessness and “expanding housing supply across Washington.”

“We won’t make the kinds of progress we desperately need across the next generation if we don’t laser focus on it with somebody whose job it is to get that done,” Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said Thursday.

According to the Washington Department of Commerce, Washington will need to build around 1.1 million new units over the next 19 years, with at least half of the units designated as affordable housing.

However, Klicker remains frustrated the governor vetoed his proposal earlier this year to study the cost drivers for homeownership and renters in Washington.

“Washington’s housing costs are making the American dream of homeownership out of reach for far too many. Even finding an affordable place to rent is increasingly taxing people’s incomes,” Klicker said in a statement.

According to a fiscal note attached to the legislation, the study Klicker proposed would have cost the state about $233,000.

“The greatest strength of my bill was that it brought to the table builders, Realtors, tenants, union representatives and economists, just to name a few. These are everyday people who have a lot of experience and factual information about housing in our state,” Klicker said. “Instead, the governor took my task force and appointed his own without the people who understand housing and experience the difficulties and barriers we face every day. And it will be meaningless.”

Of the 422 bills passed, Klicker’s bill was the only one not signed by the governor. Ferguson veto ed provisions in nine other pieces of legislation, many that would have funded various studies.

In a veto message on Klicker’s bill, Ferguson wrote that “multiple studies have identified the primary drivers of housing costs, and these findings can be utilized to make sound policy decisions.”

“Given the pressures on Washington’s budget, our state’s limited resources should be spent on identifying and implementing solutions to the housing crisis; I do not believe the cost of another study on cost drivers is warranted,” Ferguson wrote in a veto message dated May 20. “Accordingly, I am vetoing HB 1108.”

The rationale was in line with several partial vetoes Ferguson issued in 2025. Citing Washington’s budgetary challenges, Ferguson blocked separate funding for the Department of Commerce to continue a study comparing domestic violence intervention models, the “effectiveness of a Seattle organization’s health delivery model” and how to create a register of housing options marketed as “senior independent living.”

“Exploring intervention models for domestic violence is worthwhile, but I am vetoing this item because of the state’s significant fiscal challenges and funding cuts from the federal government,” Ferguson wrote in one of his partial veto messages.

The executive order signed by Ferguson last week will establish a task force which the governor’s office said would be focused on “expanding housing supply statewide and engaging a broad range of stakeholders to identify gaps and opportunities for all housing types.”

According to the executive order, the task force will include representatives from the governor’s office, the lieutenant governor, the Department of Commerce, the Office of Financial Management, legislators, local jurisdictions and for-profit and nonprofit housing developers.

“This is a huge issue for our state, it’s going to be for a long, long time,” Ferguson said during a news conference Thursday. “And to have that elevated to a cabinet level, I think, sets the right priorities for the state, the right priorities for the governor, and the right priorities for the people of our state.”